What is an ADA Compliance Checker?

What is an ADA compliance checker? And does your website actually need one? An ADA compliance checker is a tool that scans your website for accessibility barriers that could put you in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA.

The ADA requires digital experiences to be accessible for people with disabilities. However, the ADA itself does not include technical specifications on how to do so. Instead, it enforces the standards outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). 

An ADA checker will run your digital content against WCAG success criteria and flag common issues. Common ADA violations include missing alt text, poor color contrast, unlabeled form fields, and broken keyboard navigation. These are the issues that most commonly show up in ADA lawsuits. 

An important note: automated accessibility tools only catch common accessibility issues. This is a meaningful starting point, but not the whole strategy. More complex issues, like whether a screen reader can actually navigate your site in a logical order or whether your captions or alt text are understandable, require human evaluation.